Siren Song

As soon as we saw the sails, we lifted our voices in song. There were no words comprehensible by men, but it pulled at them anyway. The ship turned almost immediately in our direction, full sail. Our voices rose ever higher and we could hear the men shouting, trying to get more speed out of the ship. It wasn't long before they were close enough to see us without the help of their spyglass. They began to dive into the water in a vain attempt to get to us even quicker. We slid into the surf to meet them. One by one our voices went quiet. The spell would break when the last of us went under, but it wouldn't matter. By then it would be too late for them to change course.

Into the depths we went, wrapping our arms around them. At first, they welcomed our embrace. They soon began to struggle, to free themselves from our grasp but it was of no use. We were strongest in the water and we pulled them down, down, down into the dark where the sun couldn't reach.

The wisps of white would free themselves from their useless bodies in those midnight waters. The souls of men began to rise as the bodies fell into the depths. And we would chase them, those intoxicating vapors. I let go of the body I held as his soul released itself. I followed it up, trying to suck it in. My heart soared as the feeling of completeness ebbed into me. I raced to stay entwined in the essence as long as I could, wishing I could grab it in my hands, and hold on to it forever. How lucky man was that God saw fit to give them souls. How lucky to be able to feel this completeness from the time they are born. How unfair that we did not.

The soul broke the surface. Then up it rose into the sky, out of my reach forever. The ecstasy was gone, leaving me cold. So I chased down another and another and another.

He had not been one to jump, his will stronger than most. As the ship broke upon the reef, he fell landing on a piece of the broken hull. His blood leaked out from the wounds, coloring the seas an ominous red. It was a beautiful color and we swam through it, watching him bleed into the ocean. The water took on a metallic taste and we drank it in. If we let him bleed much longer we wouldn't be able to get his soul deep enough. I wanted it for myself. I wanted as much time with it as I could get. My heart fluttered with the excitement of how it would feel to intertwine myself with this beautiful soul.

I took him, then. Our descent was like a dance; swirling and graceful. His eyes opened when the cold salt water washed over his face. He looked at me. His eyes weren't filled with the fear that most carried. It was a look of curiosity and inquisition. It was not the look I was used to; a strong soul indeed.

I stared back at him, mirroring his gaze. His long dark hair floated around him. Bubbles slowly exited his nose in an attempt to keep the water out. Other little pockets of air speckled his beard and for some reason it made me laugh. He smiled back at me. I stared into his eyes trying to understand this reaction. I realized I had stopped our descent and began it again. Instead of flailing as others had, he reached out his hand and touched the scales around the edge of my face. His touch was gentle as it explored features. I stopped again, this time on purpose. Why was he so different? Why was he still not frightened? Would this affect the way his soul felt? I knew I would never find out.

His face began to redden, the bubbles exiting quicker. The fear I was so used to began to show in his brown eyes. I couldn't take this soul. How could I? It was a strong soul, and I knew that the feeling I got from swimming through its path would be beyond compare. But I also knew that it would leave me colder than I had ever been before. Was it worth it? That moment of completeness? Of euphoria? That brief flash of humanity, was it worth stealing a lifetime from another so I could feel it for a moment?

I made a decision then, one I was sure to regret. The other sirens looked on in confusion as I shot upward, carrying the man with me. He gasped and sputtered as we broke the surface. I held his weakened form as I swam through the rocky waters that had claimed so many human lives.

The waves tossed us about. It was harder swimming at the surface but I couldn't go under or he wouldn't be able to breathe and he was too weak to swim it on his own. Even the strongest human swimmer could not have made it through the rocks alive. As it was, even with my knowledge of the rocky shore and powerful fins we both arrived at the beach torn and bloodied.

He was unconscious when I laid him on the sandy part of the coast. As the sea drew back from the shore my fin melted away, leaving me looking human. I pulled him up farther to the dry brush so the tide would not reclaim this soul. He woke again as I turned back toward the water and spoke in a low raspy voice.

"Why?"

I shook my head. There was no answer I could give him because I couldn't even explain it to myself. Why did I give up the best soul I had ever met? A once-in-a-lifetime feeling of ecstasy? I shook my head. "I don't know," I said. I ran to the water's edge and dove into its embrace, my legs fusing once again as the brine touched them.